corkonian1
New member
Sacrificial anodes are fitted to outboards and boats to prevent corrosian. Would fitting one to a steel trailer prevent it coroding ? Over to the experts...
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anode on a trailer !
- Thread starter corkonian1
- Start date
tcm
...
er, only if it was underwater. in air (which doesn't conduct lecky too well) there aren't thye same conditions.
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snowleopard
Active member
once the trailer is out of the water, corrosion goes on in little loaclised patches where there are damp salt residues. to get round this problem you need hundreds of little bits of zinc all over. it's called galvanising!
failing that, hose off the salt after every immersion, especially in all the hard to get at crevices.
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failing that, hose off the salt after every immersion, especially in all the hard to get at crevices.
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corkonian1
New member
Ill get my coat
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AndrewB
Well-known member
Different types of corrosion.
We are talking different types of corrosion.
Anodes protect against electrolytic corrosion, which is what happens when two different types of metal are placed fairly close together in an 'electrolyte' - a current carrying fluid, sea water being quite good for this. Effectively one of the metals is stripped off and plates the other metal, creating electricity in the process if the two pieces of metal are connected. This is how batteries work, incidentally. This process is most significant for objects that remain immersed for long periods.
Mild steel doesn't suffer much from electrolysis, in fact mostly (but not always), it is on the receiving end of any electrolytic action - it tends to get plated. What it does suffer from though is oxidisation, rusting, a chemical reaction with dissolved oxygen in water. This process is most severe for objects that get alternately wet and dry, like your trailer.
So anodes are largely irrelevant in your case. However, electrolytic action can either speed or reduce chemical reactions. As Snowleopard hints, the deposits on steel from electrolysis with zinc anodes do give the steel some slight protection against rusting, but not in your case enough to make any difference.
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We are talking different types of corrosion.
Anodes protect against electrolytic corrosion, which is what happens when two different types of metal are placed fairly close together in an 'electrolyte' - a current carrying fluid, sea water being quite good for this. Effectively one of the metals is stripped off and plates the other metal, creating electricity in the process if the two pieces of metal are connected. This is how batteries work, incidentally. This process is most significant for objects that remain immersed for long periods.
Mild steel doesn't suffer much from electrolysis, in fact mostly (but not always), it is on the receiving end of any electrolytic action - it tends to get plated. What it does suffer from though is oxidisation, rusting, a chemical reaction with dissolved oxygen in water. This process is most severe for objects that get alternately wet and dry, like your trailer.
So anodes are largely irrelevant in your case. However, electrolytic action can either speed or reduce chemical reactions. As Snowleopard hints, the deposits on steel from electrolysis with zinc anodes do give the steel some slight protection against rusting, but not in your case enough to make any difference.
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